


Even Bad Places Have Good People

by Fic_Request_Blog



Series: Veil/Sunny Series [1]
Category: Into the Badlands (TV)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Beautiful, F/M, Getting Together, NSFW, Sex, mostly happy ending
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-25
Updated: 2017-01-25
Packaged: 2018-09-19 21:36:35
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,546
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9461306
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fic_Request_Blog/pseuds/Fic_Request_Blog
Summary: Prompt: I’d love a fic about how they met, how they went from an awkward doctor/patient relationship to “yep I’m carrying his child”





	

Veil doesn’t ask when they bring him in. She doesn’t ask who he is or what he’s done, just clears room on her table and nods to Quinn.

Head injury, shallow cut above right temple. Pressure break? Already clotting. Needs salve and a bandage. Non-life-threatening.

They clear out of her way once the man has been placed on his back, but they do not leave. Neither does Quinn. This man must be important.

Laying her tools out methodically, Veil doesn’t hesitate to cut the red leather vest off of him. She assumes the matching jacket one of the other men is holding belongs to the man on her table. As well as the two swords yet another man reverently holds.

Light bruising to the face. Split lip and swelling in left eye. Cold press needed.

The vest opens and she can’t help but notice the hush in the room. Apparently this man is very important. He is not old, probably not many years more than herself, but there are deep lines etched beneath his eyes and even unconscious he seems to frown.

This is a man with a hard life.

She runs her hands along hard muscle and toned limbs, but very few scars. He must be a good fighter.

One broken rib, one cracked. Low chance of internal bleeding. Small cut along left thigh, no bandage. Deep cut in left forearm, clean and bandage now. Swelling in right ankle. Broken? Sprained.

He’s suffered some blood loss, but this man has likely suffered worse. Why is he unconscious? She can’t find any trauma that is truly life-threatening.

“Help me turn him over.”

Quinn hesitates and so do his men. She does not know why, but she will have none of it.

“If you want to make sure he lives, then I must check his back as well.”

That spurs them to movement. Slipping the vest off as three of the men roll him over, she drops the red leather to the floor. When they back away she does not move forward, just stares.

The tattoos are completely visible. Bruising along broken rib and along shoulder blade. She knows who this man is. Four long, uninterrupted bruises down the back. Caning? This is Sunny. This is Quinn’s best Clipper. Rib must be set and wrapped. Cold press for swelling.

There are so many lines. So many lines.

How can she fix a man who has broken so many others? How can she justify saving a life that is going to go out and destroy so many more?

Quinn does not give her the choice, “Do not stop.”

Closing her eyes for just a moment, Veil breathes. It is not her right to decide who lives and who dies no matter what they have done. It is not her right to decide who lives and who dies no matter what they have done. It is not her right to-

“I said continue.”

Set broken rib and wrap. Clean cut in thigh. Check pulse and breathing for irregularities.

Running her hands into his short, black hair, Veil finds the reason this man is unconscious. There is a large bump at the juncture of his spine and skull. He was cold-cocked.

Non-life-threatening. Needs cold press and rest. Should not move. Should drink water upon waking. Should stay warm and in dark for headache.

She steps away. It is not her right to decide who lives and who dies no matter what they have done.

“He’ll live, but he shouldn’t be moved. He needs at least twenty-four hours before he goes anywhere.”

Large dose with pain killers. Regular dose after every three hours. Reduce swelling in skull quickly.

Quinn nods and leaves. The two men holding Sunny’s gear do not. She does not say anything else.

He’s warm and comfortable… He can’t focus on anything well, just the pleasant rub of cotton sheets. He doesn’t know where he is, but there’s no pain, no yelling. It’s quiet.

He drifts in and out of sleep. At least, he thinks he does. He’s not sure. He still can’t focus.

Sunny blearily manages to open his eyes, trying to see anything in the dim light of the room. His body isn’t moving where he tells it to, but maybe he’s just not trying hard enough? He’s not sure.

“Oh, you’re awake.”

There’s someone leaning over him. She has dark hair and dark eyes and he might be getting lost in them.

“Can you tell me how you feel?”

Nothing mars her beautiful face. She is soft in the candle light, so soft…

“Did I die?”

She laughs, a light, sudden burst of sound in the quiet, and he can’t think of any music more elegant.

“No. You were brought here by Baron Quinn.”

Not an angel? There is a person like this in the Badlands?

The haze closes in again, taking the radiant woman with it. He sleeps well.

“I see you’re back.”

Sunny stands as Quinn enters the room, nodding quietly, “Yes.”

“I’m glad the doc could fix you up. Now ain’t the time to lose my best Clipper.”

Frowning, Sunny thinks back. Had he been at a doctor’s?

“Doc? Was that the woman?”

Quinn grunts an affirmative, “Yeah. Veil. She’s good. Probably one of the best.”

Sunny just nods. His healing ribs can attest to that.

It doesn’t take him long to end up on Veil’s table again.

She is quiet around him. He worries that she is afraid of him, but he’s not sure there is much he can do about it. He doesn’t mean to cause her fear or worry.

They talk a little, mostly just him giving his thanks at first, but slowly she opens up. As does he. He realizes he tells her possibly too much about himself, but he can’t bring himself to stop.

He trusts her. Maybe it’s just the dozen or so times she’s patched him back together, but he feels that he can trust Veil. She is kind and compassionate and loves to help others.

She is as far from what he is as can be.

 

He’s walking back from training when he sees her.

It’s mid-spring at the time, the air warm with the rays of the afternoon sun.

Veil is walking in a field of flowers, dark hair and blue shirt a sharp contrast against the reds and yellows. Petals flutter around her on the breeze like butterflies, wrapping her in color and grace. Oblivious to his eyes, she smiles, radiant and glorious to behold.

He breathes out and can’t seem to find air to breath back in.

Veil loves being a doctor, but she hates treating Quinn.

Volatile thoughts swirl through her mind as she walks through the chill of autumn, steps quick in

the dying light. She tells herself that it isn’t her right, but she hates him nonetheless.

A commotion in the training yard caught her attention and she slows ever so slightly.

It is him.

Even in this chill Sunny moves like flame, flickering and leaping between his sparring partners. They part like birds before the torch.

She can see why he’s the best.

It is a beautiful, terrible dance to behold.

Yet he does not burn them. He pulls back, turning a deadly blow into a teaching bruise.

He would be a good man if only he worked under one.

 

A soft knock pulls Veil from the pages of her book and she watches as her door swings open.

Sunny walks through and she frowns. He had just been in the day before.

“How is it that you’ve injured yourself so soon?”

He has the decency to look sheepish before he shakes his head, “I am not injured.”

She can’t help but raise a brow, “Somehow I find that hard to believe.”

Stepping to the front of her desk, he lays a single tulip down upon the text before her, “I wanted to thank you. I know you don’t…agree with what I do, but you have never refused to treat me. Thank you.”

Surprised, Veil looks up into dark eyes. He does not avoid her gaze, but there is worry in his eyes, as though he thinks he has stepped to close.

“I do not agree with what Quinn makes you do, but I do not disagree with why you do it. Loyalty, even to a man such as him, is still loyalty.”

For a moment, Sunny looks at her as though she has given him a redemption he could not have asked for, but then he is gone, fleeing from her home.

She counts it as win against the damage Quinn has inflicted upon this man.  

 

It is some time before Sunny returns. He is quiet and uninjured. She waits for him to speak.

“Would you teach me to read?”

She stares at the book in her hands and nearly cries.

How has this man stayed so gentle at heart in the face of so much death and violence? How does

he keep any form of his humanity when life has given him nothing but blood to wash his hands in? How has Quinn’s greed for power not corrupted one so high in his ranks?

How could she possibly turn down a plea such as this?

“Yes. Yes, I would love to.”

It is the first time she sees him smile without the haunted sadness that surrounds him so constantly. It is worth each hour she has spent putting this broken man back together.

As night falls, Sunny reads his first few paragraphs alone, excited that he’s come this far in only a few months. He looks up for approval as he finishes and finds a smile on Veil’s face, as clear a meaning as the nod that follows.

“Good. Good! See, you’re doing well.”

Smiling himself, Sunny closes the book gently. It is enough for tonight. He must go back to the home Quinn expects him to be in. The coming morning hails a meeting for his Clippers.

Veil follows him to the door, wishing him a good night.

Turning, Sunny takes a tender hold of her arm, “Thank you.”

He thanks her every time, no matter the progress he has or has not made, no matter his frustration, because he does not know if it will be the last time.

Still smiling, Veil rests her hand against his forearm, “Of course. You are welcome.”

This night is different though.

Moonlight streams through the door, encasing them in silver and they are both trapped in the moment. He is drawn to the light in her eyes, to the swell of her lips, to the kindness in the curve of her jaw. He is drawn to her like a moth to a flame and he would let her burn him if she so desired.

He leans down, one hand coming up to cup her face as she closes her eyes.

She trusts him.

Their lips meet, soft and chaste.

He doesn’t want to hurt her. He doesn’t want to scare this beautiful, courageous woman from him. He doesn’t know how to love yet, but hopefully she will be gracious enough to teach him that as well.

He pulls back and realizes that she isn’t the one that is afraid.

Veil relaxes into her sheets as Sunny finally settles atop her. He gives to her lead, hesitant to touch even with invitation.

He mirrors her, runs his hands down her sides as she traces lines down his back, kissing along her collarbone when she tilts her head.

"Yes.”

She reassures him with her body, moving to meet him where he falters, opening up when he closes himself off, working until they are so entwined even Sunny can’t find reason to run.

He still hesitates even as she spreads her legs, a smile tugging at her lips, “You will not break me. Come. I want you.”

As always, he listens, sinking into her as the world falls away.

The intensity is blinding as Veil pulls him to her chest, his hands falling to her thighs as she rolls her hips to meet his stuttering thrusts. He grows bolder with her murmurs of encouragement, whispered praise at the crown of his head.

Mouthing across her breasts, Sunny drowns himself in her heat, licking and nipping at any skin in reach as she draws new lines across his shoulders with her fingernails. He readjusts to press deeper, relishing in the cries he draws from her, relishing in her pleasure as much as his own.

Holding himself up with one hand, Sunny pulls back just enough to see her, to smile as Veil opens her eyes. She is beautiful. Curling a hand around the back of his neck, she brings their lips together, kissing him as he thrusts slow and heavy inside her.

Veil’s hands are everywhere, in his hair, along his back, circled around where they are joined. It is heady and intoxicating. He can’t get enough of her, not even with her legs wrapped around his waist and her mouth searing the juncture of his shoulder and throat.

“Yes.”

It is soft, even as he pants into her hair, soft enough he almost misses it.

He does not miss the meaning.

Placing both hands on her hips, Sunny settles his weight between her legs and holds her as they both fall over the edge, light flashing behind his eyelids as he drops his head to the crook of her shoulder, still grinding into her as much as her clenched legs allow.

The night is still as they lie together, gentle touches whiling away the moonlit hours. They do not speak but for whispered endearments and they do not wake with the sun. This morning they sleep well into dawn, wrapped in each other as the world around them awakens.

 

Veil doesn’t know how everything has ended up like this, but here she is, in love with the head Clipper of one of the deadliest Barons in the Badlands. He’s sweet and kind and more compassionate than she thought possible.

There are problems of course, but there are problems in all relationships. Besides, there are always problems in the Badlands.

They stay secret, meeting in the dark of night or early hours of morning. She continues to teach him to read, continues to patch him up when he comes back injured.

It’s okay though. They’re happy in their own way. It’s an odd, broken, Badlands kind of way, but it’s theirs and she will keep it if possible.

“I’m pregnant.”

In the candlelight, Sunny sits up, folding his legs and turning towards Veil, “Pregnant?”

She catches one of his hands, placing it atop her belly, “Pregnant.”

He’s not sure what to say, just traces the slight bulge resting in the palm of his hands. Veil watches, relaxing under the touch. It’s been two years since they met, but even through all that time Sunny had never imagined raising a child in the Badlands, not even with Veil.

He is a father.

Bending down, Sunny kisses her, his free hand brushing back her hair. He kisses her again and lays back down, curling around her in the deepening night.

He is going to find a way out of the Badlands.  



End file.
